Calls renewed for action to make Parkside Drive safer as speed camera data shows driver ticketed going 4 times the limit

Sijia Liu reports from Parkside Drive after new data was released showing the startlingly high speeds recorded by the infamous speed camera.

Drivers are operating their vehicles at extreme rates of speed, with at least one clocked going four times the limit, on Toronto’s Parkside Drive, new data obtained through a Freedom of Information request to the City of Toronto has revealed.

Community group Safe Parkside, which made the FOI request, shared a list of the top 10 highest-recorded speeds by the Parkside automated speed enforcement (ASE) device since it was installed on April 1, 2022, to now. They range from 154 km/h on Feb. 25, 2024, to 119 km/h on Jan. 20, 2023.

The city also indicated in that data that it has issued 46 ASE tickets to drivers travelling 100 km/h or more on Parkside Drive since April 1, 2022.

A City of Toronto spokesperson has confirmed to CP24 that this information is accurate.

The current speed limit on Parkside, between Bloor Street West and Lakeshore Boulevard West, is 40 km/h.

Faraz Gholizadeh, the co-chair of Safe Parkside, told CP24 on Wednesday morning that these findings come as no surprise to his group and serve to highlight the urgent need for action to make the street safer for all users.

“The reason why we put this request in is because we’re expecting these numbers. It’s very disappointing that the city has this data at their disposal and still they sit on their hands and let this meeting continue on Parkside Drive,” he said.

Safe Parkside is also lamenting the lack of updates and timelines for the long-delayed Parkside Drive Study, which was approved by Toronto City Council back in 2021.

The group is once again requesting a meeting with Mayor Olivia Chow to discuss the road safety-focused redesign project and is demanding to know when the final design drawings for the conceptual redesign of Parkside Drive will be ready.

The Parkside speed camera was initially introduced in 2021 after a speeding driver rear-ended a stopped vehicle, killing 71-year-old Valdemar Avila and his 69-year-old wife, Fatima.

READ MORE: Memorial for Toronto couple killed on Parkside Drive renews calls for safer streets

It is one of several serious and even fatal collisions in recent years on this four-lane major arterial road.

The ASE device on Parkside is out of commission at this time after being chopped down for the seventh time in less than a year on Sept. 7.

Speaking to reporters following an unrelated news conference on Wednesday afternoon, Chow said the speed camera on Parkside would “absolutely” be replaced. She did not, however, say when that may occur.

The mayor did not speak to the request for a meeting with Safe Parkside about the street study during her media availability.

“When people break the law, they need to pay. We will continue to support the speed cameras because we know speed kills, because we know they work,” Chow added.

“We know that speed cameras save lives and we’ll continue to support them.”

The mayor went on to say that she recently received an “incredibly moving” letter from a Toronto woman sharing that their teenage son had been struck by a driver while out for a walk over the Thanksgiving long weekend. The collision occurred at an intersection in a school zone.

“Thank God it was a school zone and the driver was within the speed limit. The son was hurt a bit but not enough that it cost the son to be seriously hurt. So they were still able to celebrate Thanksgiving,” she said, adding stories like these from families show that speed cameras are working and should be maintained in Toronto.

The Ontario PCs, meanwhile, are expected to table a bill in the coming weeks that would see ASE cameras banned throughout the province.

As for when or if the city may be required to eliminate the devices, Chow said, “We’ll get there when we get there … hopefully not.”

In response to the latest speed camera data, Chow said she’s happy tickets are being issued to those driving at high rates of speed.

“It cost them a lot of money and probably they are not doing it again,” she said.

“So at least we’re preventing those offenders to repeatedly speed. If we don’t do that, that drivers that are going 120 for example. If you get hit by a driver that is going 120, you have zero chance of surviving, so at least those drivers would learn not to do it again.”

Ontario’s Minister of Transportation Prabmeet Sarkaria said this speed camera data for Parkside Drive actually serves to demonstrate that these devices do not work and that drivers do not alter their behaviour around them.

“I think you know the data that’s been presented here proves exactly the point that Premier Ford and myself have been trying to make that these cameras are ineffective. We’ve got data from 2022 2023 2024 that shows that speeding has increased, or this excessive speeding through this zone has continued to maintain itself,” he said.

Sarkaria noted his government is focused on pushing for measures that will address speeding drivers at the “point of entry” of a Community Safety Zones by putting infrastructure like speed humps.

“Realistically, you cannot go at those speeds if there is a speed bump (sic) in one of those areas, which would prevent a vehicle or a driver going through this area at such a high speed,” he told CP24 on Wednesday morning.

Province says it’s taking a ‘proactive’ approach to speeding drivers

“If the approach that we take is proactive, rather than a reactive approach, which sends you the ticket three weeks later, a lot of these individuals will not stop speeding, they’ll take the ticket.”

Sarkaria said paying for expensive repairs to fix a vehicle that was significantly damaged by a speed hump is a sure-fire speed-reduction measure.

“So I think you can take that into consideration absolutely is speed bumps, which can do damage to your vehicle, which can, which will, at the point of entry, stop the individual from going to an excessive speed are going to be very, very effective at achieving the outcome of public safety,” he said.

In terms of how many speed humps would be installed on roads and where, Sarkaria said the province would work with municipalities to figure out those details.

He also pointed to targeted enforcement as well as larger signage as other traffic-calming measures that can be employed to reduce speeding. Sarkaria said best practices from the 400-plus municipalities across Ontario that did not implement speed cameras can also be looked at to address this issue.

Gholizadeh, of Safe Parksafe, said it’s “very disappointing” that the province has taken this position on speed cameras despite the advice of police chiefs and hospital saying otherwise as well as school boards asking for these cameras to remain.

“If we’re not going to look at data and we’re not going to listen to doctors and teachers and police chiefs, then, who is our premier listening to, because clearly he’s not on the side of safety, because these cameras do work, and they’re very much needed on our streets for us,” he said.

The road safety advocate added that he’s not even sure if speed humps are allowed on Parkside, which is an arterial road and serves as both an ambulance and bus route.

CP24 has reached out to the City of Toronto for further clarification.

“When they put out these suggestions and these ideas, they’re not being serious. They know they’ll never be speed bumps on Parkside,” Gholizadeh said.

“It seems like the premier has no interest in safety on our streets and is willing to put people at risk, because that’s exactly what’s going to happen with everything he’s doing.”

He said his group will nonetheless continue to advocate for a safer Parkside.

“That’s what we’ve been doing for the last decade. Now the province is not the only roadblock. The City of Toronto has also been very slow along the way, dragging their feet every step of the way in addressing Parkside speeding,” Gholizadeh said.

“And the most disappointing part is they have all the data. They see what’s happening on the street, and still they’re so unwilling to actually do something about it. …It’s honestly mind boggling and extremely disappointing.”